“I’d like to go back home.” | Kaden Magwood discusses his recruitment

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY–Two natives of the Louisville, Kentucky area caught up recently for an interview. National Basketball Recruiting Analyst for Rivals.com, Travis Graf, chatted with Oak Hill Academy’s Kaden Magwood about his college recruitment. Currently, according to 247Sports and Rivals, the 2025 point guard is said to hold offers from Western Kentucky, Coastal Carolina, Kentucky State, and Southeast Missouri State at this point in time. But, it’s only a matter of time before his recruitment takes off.

Kaden Magwood is a 6-foot-2, 170-pound point guard who recently transferred to the famed prep school after one season with the Western High School Warriors of Shively, Kentucky. Before his inaugural high school season at Western, his dad had the utmost confidence in him. His father, Al Magwood, told Brandon Britt, the Head Basketball Coach at Western, this:

"“Kaden’s gonna blow up; he’s gonna have a monster freshman year; just get ready for the prep schools coming.”"

Well, that’s exactly what happened. Kaden blew up and one of the most famous prep schools across America came calling. None other than the historic Oak Hill Academy. The very school that Carmelo Anthony attended and the same school that Louisville legend Rajon Rondo transferred to after leaving Eastern High School.

Magwood does not currently hold a scholarship offer from the University of Louisville, but it is certainly a school of great interest to the three-star point guard. In his interview with Travis Graf, he told Rivals:

"“They’ve [Louisville] been struggling this year, but I’d like to go back home. It would be cool because it’s the hometown.”"

Bringing a high-quality talent like Magwood back home to sport the iconic Cardinals jersey would be a success for Kenny Payne. Much like Jeff Brohm is doing on the football side of things, having the ability to recruit successfully within the state borders would be a good look for any program, especially one that has to compete with the University of Kentucky on a perennial basis.

For example, as a part of the 2023 recruiting cycle, John Calipari landed North Laurel product Reed Sheppard out of London, Kentucky. If Kenny Payne could retain Kaden Magwood, much like he is doing with Kaleb Glenn, then that would mean huge things for the city of Louisville.

Kaleb Glenn is a lot like Kaden Magwood in this scenario in that he is originally from Louisville and attended high school within the city limits before transferring to a prep school for greater development. Kaleb Glenn transferred from Louisville Male High School to La Lumiere High School in La Porte, Indiana for the same reasons why Kaden Magwood transferred to Oak High Academy.

Granted, the Class of 2025 is a distant thought in the future, but if Division I programs are already offering scholarships to him, then the Louisville men’s basketball program could at the very least consider his talents. Especially in the situation the Cardinals are in right now with their lack of guard depth.

He is an all-around guard with good vision and decent shot mechanics. Only being a sophomore right now, the potential for him to get better is through the roof.